BALTIMORE — John Harbaugh talked like the closest thing to Joe Flacco’s agent without actually being his agent.

“Pay him whatever he asks for! Where’s Steven?” the Ravens’ head coach said Monday night, laughing, glancing around for owner Steve Bisciotti. “Pay the man! Pay the man!’’

Actually, standing in that doorway to the press conference in M&T Bank Stadium – fresh off of another sterling performance in a 44-13 rout of Cincinnati, the latest Ravens win in a career full of wins going on five years – was Flacco himself.

“You heard that,’’ Flacco replied. At least he claimed later he’d replied that. Flacco is as reticent in public now as he was as a rookie, and would still rather discuss, say, the intricacies of the electoral-college system than his own performance. Case in point: when he was asked later if he thought this was “your year,’’ he answered, “I think it’s always our year.’’

“His” year began right, with about as airtight a game as he’s ever played, which is saying a lot considering among the previous highs was last January’s AFC championship game in New England, which he very nearly pulled out to send the Ravens to the Super Bowl instead of the Patriots. Play as well all season and in the playoffs as he did in the nationally-televised opener – 21-of-29, 299 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions on a night of 430 yards of total offense – and they’ll be back where they were a year ago.

So, it might be his year to get to the Super Bowl.

Oh, it also might be his year to cash in big.

Flacco’s career has been defined by things constantly hanging over his head, none bigger than the burden of being the franchise quarterback the city not only has waited for its entire existence in town, but ever since Johnny Unitas left. This year, though, he has the walk year of his rookie contract hanging over him, too.

This past offseason, he had to wait in line on his own team behind running back Ray Rice, with whom the Ravens beat the pre-training camp deadline on a new deal. Now it’s Flacco’s turn to state his case in his final contract year.

One could ask, of course, what else he really has to do to earn it. Harbaugh, it appears, wonders the same thing.

“We know what we’ve got in this guy,’’ he said. “Joe Flacco’s gonna be a great player – Joe Flacco IS a great player, and Joe Flacco has been a great player. He’s a winner. He’s one of the toughest quarterback I’ve ever been around. He’s the best quarterback I’ve been around.’’

Granted, Harbaugh jokingly conceded that he might not be the ultimate authority after a career as a special-teams coach. Then again, Harbaugh has been a head coach and a Raven as long as Flacco has. Flacco has been his starter in every game that counts, including playoff games after each season, at least one win each postseason, and two AFC title game trips.

At the same time, Flacco clearly has not been the unanimous people’s choice in Charm City. In his tenure, it’s been the kind of town where the backup quarterback is the most popular player on the team. Two years ago, that meant Marc Bulger was being pushed as the savior.

Not by anyone whose opinion mattered, but that’s what Flacco has faced during and after every playoff misfire, every letdown of Ray Lewis and another edition of a legendary defense.

The breakthrough finally came in that Patriots playoff game, even though it was another soul-crushing loss. It didn’t mean the heat was completely off, but the arguments against him got terribly weak.

This offseason and training camp, under a new quarterbacks coach in Jim Caldwell – you may know the name from one of his former pupils, Peyton something – Flacco looked unstoppable, so much so that everyone was waiting for the bubble to burst.

It didn’t. The first time he walked out of the huddle in a real game, he launched a 52-yard beauty to Torrey Smith, setting up the Ravens’ first touchdown. He was all but flawless after that, too.

“It was a lot of fun, you can’t lie about that,’’ he said.

The most fun season on offense in Ravens history might be on tap. How much fun it could be for Flacco remains to be seen, though. The contract situation won’t go away, whether he’s brilliant, awful, winning, losing, or some combination of them all.

“I don’t concern myself with that stuff,’’ he said. “I feel like I always go out there, we go out on the field, and we play pretty damn good every week. The stats might not always say 299 yards or 300 yards or 450 yards or whatever, but the bottom line is, I go out there, I play hard, I play tough, and we win a lot of football games around here.

“So all that stuff will take care of itself.’’

Flacco, then, is his own best agent. He stated his case Monday night. He gave the Ravens another reason to pay the man.